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3 SECONDS (Snapchat horror short film)

The two of us reviewing an app-themed horror is like The Big Show breaking down the finer points of a tango — take it with a grain of salt, or better yet, just hook yourself up to a saline IV.

3 Seconds is based on the popular image messaging app Snapchat, and the two guys behind the Really Awful Movies site, despite having the latest Samsung phones (please sponsor us Samsung, you guys make the best damn phones in the galaxy — see what we did there?) have installed a combined 10 apps on our phones, none of which include Snapchat (which we’ve never used, and don’t intend to). We have state-of-the-art televisions and laptops but really, when it comes down to early adoption and tech savvy, you can’t get more ambivalent. But just because we’re decidedly low tech and record and edit our podcast by processes unlikely to impress the Pennsylvania Dutch doesn’t mean we don’t appreciate trickery and ingenuity when it comes to filmmaking.

That’s a table setting for 3 Seconds, a film under 3 minutes, in which a woman is stalked by a Snapchat user. A neat idea. Hell, horror is all about exploiting vulnerabilities, which is why so many victims get lost on back-roads or are hunted down while they shower. Here, it’s while the protagonist sleeps.

We’re part of CryptTV, and in 2015, Eli Roth, the brains behind the operation, launched the #15SecondScare contest which, as its name implies, asks budding filmmakers to provide a jolt in less time than it takes to empty one’s bowels (with hopefully the same outcome if it’s horrifying enough). Alex J Mann, the guy behind 3 Seconds, the Snapchat horror short (uber short, er, mini me horror) had a bit more time to stretch out, but not that much. A neat idea, and in less time than it takes to brew a proper cup of coffee, Mann has crafted a highly effective short.